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Citizens United v. FEC

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In this toolkit, you will find many ways you can get involved in the movement to amend our Constitution to get big money out of politics. From writing letters to the editor to calling your representative to hosting an event, we need your voice in the fight to reclaim our democracy.

On June 3, 2014, the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate held a hearing on the need to amend the Constitution to overturn the Supreme Court’s decisions in Citizens United v. FEC, and related cases. In particular, the Committee examined Senator Tom Udall’s amendment proposal SJRES 19, which seeks to restore the constitutional authority to regulate the raising and spending of money to influence elections, so that the American people, and not corporations, billionaires and special interests, hold the power in our elections.

The Supreme Court’s decision in McCutcheon v. FEC opened the floodgates for yet more money to be spent in federal campaigns. Yet the effects of the McCutcheon decision are not limited to federal elections. Eleven states and the District of Columbia have aggregate limits on the books that will soon be toppled, if they have not already been nullified, in the wake of McCutcheon, leading to ballooning campaign spending in those states.

The American public and a growing number of public officials are calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and related cases to redefine the role of corporate power in the political sphere and place the election process where it belongs – in the hands of the people.

Featured at this year's Netroots Nation, check out our new United For the People web portal featuring all the organizations that are united in the belief that the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United must be remedied by a Constitutional amendment in order to restore the democratic promise of America.

Resources

A new PFAW Foundation report examines how the Supreme Court's conservative majority is working to reshape our Constitution and elevate corporate interests above the rights of individual Americans. Beginning with the 2010 decision in Citizens United, the Roberts Court has handed down a steady stream of decisions that allow enormous corporations to use their significant resource advantage to influence the law in their favor.

People For the American Way joined with more than fifty organizations to express their concern about two critical threats to our democratic system: corporate influence in elections and laws and official actions that suppress the vote. Under the banner “Money Out, Voters In,” the organizations issued a joint statement pledging to fight special interest money in politics and to support the rights of all voters.